Born in North Battleford, Sask., MacLeod moved with his family to Cape Breton Island when he was 10 and worked as a logger, a miner and a fisherman to make money for his education.

MacLeod was an acclaimed short story writer who won the prestigious International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his only novel, No Great Mischief, in 2001.

His other published works include the 1976 short story collection The Lost Salt Gift of Blood as well as 1986's As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories.

MacLeod lived in Windsor but spent his summers in Inverness County on Cape Breton Island, where he set many of his stories and where he wrote in a clifftop cabin looking west towards Prince Edward Island.

He is survived by his wife, Anita, as well as their six children and several grandchildren.